Pare Lorentz Fund 2025: Migration in and to the Americas

This year, the Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund theme will be: Migration in and to the Americas.

While based in the United States, IDA has long championed documentary filmmaking across borders and worldwide. IDA has members in over eighty countries, and nearly half of our staff and board come from outside the US. Cross-cultural, transnational dialogue is at the heart of who we are and what we do. Supporting documentaries means defending both freedom of expression and freedom of movement.

Increasingly, those in power seek to close borders, narrowly define who belongs, and exclude others, often based on ethnicity. We are witnessing a powerful politics of closure taking hold in the United States and other countries. Now more than ever, it is crucial to support forms of free expression—across art, journalism, documentary, and other practices—that tell true and compelling stories about the reality, value, and meaning of lives shaped by migration.

This year's Pare Lorentz funding cycle will award film projects that focus on migration in and to the Americas—that is, between or within the regions of the Americas, as well as to those regions from the rest of the world. Films may explore any aspect of this theme. They might examine what happens when a border divides a family; how migration affects border landscapes; how the presence of US nationals impacts Latin American countries; the consequences of forced displacement; or many other facets of this complex issue. The Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund will award $25,000 to each of three nonfiction feature films that tell, in innovative ways, stories that bring a richer and more nuanced understanding of migration and the Americas.

Thanks to the generosity of the New York Community Trust and the estate of Pare Lorentz, IDA's Pare Lorentz Fund has supported dozens of films since its launch in 2011. Lorentz was a pioneering American filmmaker active in the mid-twentieth century whose films typically examined the social, environmental, and cultural effects of new industrial systems. He provided nuanced and sometimes critical perspectives on government initiatives. You may stream Pare Lorentz's films on the IDA website for free.

The following organizations will nominate film projects for this year's Pare Lorentz selection. Nominated projects will be asked to apply by early June. 

• ChileDoc
• DocsMX
• DocsSP
• Femme Frontera
• Firelight Media
• Guadalajara Film Festival
• Hot Docs
• Latino Public Broadcasting
• Third Horizon Film Festival
• Undocumented Filmmakers Collective

Please visit the main Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund page for more information on applicant and project eligibility, evaluation criteria, selection timeline, and grant activities.